Tips for Adjusting to the Weather
tow adventure
get your b&w trailer hitch today
written by Evan Anderson
In this episode of Sweetwater, hosts Joey Nania and Miles Burghoff spend a day fishing on Nickajack Lake to hit the late fall bass bite. After unhitching their Nitro boat off their B&W trailer hitch, they head out for a versatile day on the water with changing weather conditions forcing them to shift their strategies, acting as a great example of how an angler can adjust to stay with the fish. “It’s pretty obvious when that happens you’ve gotta make a move,” says Nania, “you’ve gotta adjust. A lot of times you get stubborn, you keep banging your head against the wall, keep trying what you’ve been doing, hoping it’s gonna work, and that’s not always the best way to do it.” Here are 3 tips for adjusting your fishing strategies to meet the conditions.
@ SE Multimedia 2020
PRE-FRONTAL CONDITIONS
The biggest factor that will affect how you fish on any given day will be the weather conditions. Fish act differently on a warm, sunny day than they do if it’s cold and rainy. Temperature isn’t the only variable involved. Fish react to changes in barometric pressure as well as wind and its effect on the surface of the water. The day started out for Nania and Burghoff as a beautiful bluebird day with clear skies and sunny disposition. With these conditions, the Sweetwater hosts started off using frog baits and hitting the grass mats like they did with Buddy Gross, always a treat on Nickajack Lake. “I really do love catching fish on a frog,” says a smiling Burghoff, “That’s just one of the most visual types of fishing there is.”
Finding structure like grass mats or docks is important in any condition, but especially if the temperature is a little warmer out. It gives the fish cover from birds of prey that are more likely to be out in sunny conditions. “When I’m fishing on any body of water,” says Nania, “docks, to me, are just one of those options that I can always go catch a fish on.”
“When I’m fishing on any body of water, docks, to me, are just one of those options that I can always go catch a fish on.”
FRONTAL CONDITIONS
“As the day progressed it started getting a little windier, and you know that’s a sign of a front coming through,” says Burghoff, “and with that changing weather, we definitely saw a difference in the bite. The fish were changing with the conditions, and we had to change with them.”
"One of my favorite ways to catch them when you have those frontal conditions is with moving baits,” says Nania, “Spinner baits are great, chatter baits, topwater baits, fast-moving options that you can cover water with. Fish those grass places that are underneath the surface, not the mats you can see, but those little bits of subsurface grass with scattered holes in them.” Burghoff remarks, “Fall is the time for spinner bait.”
@ SE Multimedia 2020
“Fall is the time for spinner bait.”
POST-FRONTAL CONDITIONS
As the rain and wind subside, the pressure changes yet again and forces our anglers to adjust their strategy once more. For these conditions, Burghoff recommends using a slower presentation and advocates Nania’s idea to use a jerk bait. “Throwing a jerk bait is one of those things that I just know...if I can get it in their sight range or in their range where they can sense that bait, it really has such a triggering affect to it,” says Nania, “Rip it down and give it a few cracks upward...there’s something about it, it’s like it’s getting away from them.”
One thing that the Sweetwater hosts emphasize here is the importance of being ready and efficient. “One of the biggest things about being a professional angler is being efficient on the water,” says Nania, “A lot of time it can boil down to seconds. Every cast counts.” The two demonstrate their own efficiency with a knot tying contest. Whatever your preferred setup is, be sure you have your systems down so that you can quickly adjust to whatever comes your way.
In spite of the variable conditions and unique challenges posed by them all, our hosts don’t let their spirits get dampened, nor do they come away empty handed. Their efforts to be efficient and change with the weather result in an impressive catch of bass. They bring the boat in, put it back on the B&W trailer hitch, and begin prepping for their next adventure.
Want more insight on meeting changing conditions? Check out the full episode below and see some of the techniques discussed here employed as Burghoff and Nania battle the elements on S6:E3 of Sweetwater.
